


Right Off

by endemictoearth



Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: Antagonism, F/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 06:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4736888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endemictoearth/pseuds/endemictoearth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU based off a Tumblr prompt -- Finn's new to town and gets on Rae's wick from the start.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Right Off

**Author's Note:**

> I am INCAPABLE OF DRABBLING. It is not a skill I possess. So, here’s 2500 rambling words, inspired by #9 off mirandasmadeofstone‘s prompt list from earlier today. It has not been revised or edited, just blurted out by my fingers in a near continuous sitting. Hope you like it!
> 
> (I rated this Teen, though the ending is a tad racy . . . but nothing explicit happens. Just a wee warning!)

Rae felt something flick against the side of her neck and looked down to see a tiny scrunched up piece of paper on her desk. She shot daggers over her shoulder at Finn Nelson, who undoubtedly threw it at her. She turned around in a huff and brushed it to the floor. “What a prick,” she muttered lowly, before she focused back on her book.

Five minutes later, she felt another ping. Huffing, she picked up the tiny wad of paper and threw it at the floor.

“Miss Earl? Is there a problem?” Mr. Davies inquired in that tone that teachers get when they’re ready to make an example of someone.

“Uh, no. Not at all, sir. Sorry.” She cleared her throat and glared briefly at Finn, before burying her nose back in The Tempest. Her concentration was shot now, and she kept reading the same passage from Ariel again and again:

> _Remember I have done thee worthy service;_
> 
> _Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served_
> 
> _Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise_
> 
> _To bate me a full year._

It had been almost a year since Finn Nelson transferred to their college. He’d shown up the third week of classes last year, wearing his cool leather jacket, smirking his cooler-than-thou smirk. Rae had distrusted him instantly. Boys were trouble. They didn’t trouble her the way she’d like, but they gave her plenty of pain and problems. If only they had same-sex colleges, but nope, she had to walk the halls like she was crossing a mine-field, without the protective gear.

And he was always around, making some smart-ass remark about the buttons on her jacket, or the badges on her bag. Trying to get a rise out of her, make a point that he had some superior knowledge of music or whatever. She used to take the bait, but when his mates started laughing at her, and other arseholes at college started following her home, saying shit about her, she stopped responding.

She supposed, from a purely neutral point of view, Finn didn’t ever say anything ABOUT her. Well, to her face. He wasn’t the one calling her names or making rude remarks about her sex life, or, more accurately, lack thereof. He just got under her skin and on her wick all at the same time. And she really didn’t need it.

The bell rang and Rae took her time packing up her bag. She liked to be the last one out of the classroom. Less time on the frontline of the halls where ANYthing could happen. When she looked up from her backpack, she saw Finn was still there, looking at her. Was he _waiting_ for her?

“Yeah?” she asked, defenses up, as ever.

“Sorry ‘bout that, earlier. I was jus’ …”

“—messin’ with me, I know. It’s fun. I get it. I’m fun to make fun of … all the cool kids are doin’ it.” She swung her backpack over her shoulder and walked out without looking back to see his reaction.

* * * * *

The next day, as she was walking to school, she saw Finn walking towards her. He was alone, but she wasn’t in the mood, so she ducked down a side street and hid behind some bins. She saw him stop at the top of the street and she dropped her head just as he started to turn his to look down the alley. She counted to ten three times and then stood up cautiously, checking both ways before she crept back out into the street and to school.

When she arrived, Finn was sitting on top of one of the outdoor tables, feet on the bench, chatting to his friends Archie and Barney. She skirted the courtyard, trying to make it into the building without being seen. She kept him in the corner of her eye, and when she was about twenty paces from the entrance Finn nodded farewell to his friends and slid off the table. He was walking in her direction, but she wasn’t sure if he’d seen her. What was he playing at?

She surreptitiously unzipped her bag and pulled out the first book, which happened to be The Tempest. She pretended to read it as she kept a beeline for the front door. She suddenly wished she had her walkman with her, but her batteries had run out overnight and she could barely get the spindles to turn this morning.

And, just like that, with her eye off the ball for a second, she slammed right into … Finn fucking Nelson. “S-sorry—“ he started. When she glared at him, he changed his tune to, “Why don’t you watch where you’re goin’?”

“A thousand pardons, sir,” she drawled. “Jus’ tryin’ to get my schoolwork done before school, unlike  _some_  people.” She hadn’t exactly meant to say that, and she regretted it, just a little. Finn had gotten poor marks in English last term, and his face looked almost like it had been slapped.

“Shit. I … fine. Never mind.” He shook his head and walked off to the common room, and Rae escaped to the girls’ toilets until the first bell.

* * * * *

In English, Mr. Davies had them go to the library to use the OED to look up word origins for The Tempest. “You can choose one or two partners and each take a couple of volumes, but bring them back by the end of the period.”

Rae’s default partners in English were Chloe and Izzy. They all shrugged at each other and the other two girls followed as Rae made a beeline for the corner she liked. As she rounded the shelves, there was Finn and Archie in her usual spot. She turned around, not wanting to see his reaction to seeing her after their interaction this morning, and waved Chloe and Izzy to the table at the other end of the aisle.

She’d like to say it was unconsciously done, but she sat herself in the seat that afforded the clearest view of the other table, where the two boys seemed to be hard at work, not messing about, as usual. She pulled out the list of words and grabbed volume V-X to look up ‘vex’. When she’d written out the origin and meaning, she glanced up to find Finn still deep in concentration. Even from here, she could see his lips pursed in thought, brow furrowed, as he scribbled things on his paper. There was a pang in her chest, remembering her words.

Then, there was a pressure on her arm. Was she having a heart attack? Oh, no. It was Izzy. “Rae? Rae?”

“Hmmm?” she asked, pulling herself out of her reverie.

“Can I have that volume, if your done wi’ it?”

“Oh … yeah, sure. Sorry.”

As Izzy pulled the book closer to her, she and Chloe exchanged a look, which Rae decided to ignore. That is, until Chloe scooched her chair closer to Rae and leaned over to look down the aisle, too. “Nice view you’ve got here, Rae …” she whispered, giving her old mate a nudge and a wink.

“Hmmm? Oh, I guess. Hadn’t really noticed,” she lied, looking up ‘unwonted’.

Chloe snorted loudly, which made Rae look up in surprise, and she caught Finn doing the same. Their eyes met for a second, before Finn furrowed his eyebrows and looked away quickly.

“Did you do somethin’ to piss Finn off?” Chloe asked. “That seemed a bit rude, and he’s usually dead nice.”

“Maybe to  _you_ ,” Rae muttered.

Chloe shrugged and scooched back to her former position, seeing that Rae wasn’t going to make room for her to ogle the lads across the way.

* * * * *

After school, Rae swung by the record shop. Her own little oasis from the cares and woes of school and life. She needed a pick me up after the day she’d had, feeling guilty about what she’d said to Finn for the rest of the day, then feeling annoyed at herself for feeling bad when he was always taking the piss out of her, making comments about how she didn’t know everything about music … so she’d pointed out the obvious about him for once … so what? Why did she feel so bad, he obviously had no compunctions about keeping a running commentary on her …

_Ugh!_  she thought.  _He’s in my head, even here!_   The bell to the shop tinkled and she looked up out of instinct. It was him. Again. Finn bloody Nelson, every which way she turned. She groaned and put back the CD she was holding, walking past him out the door. “Sorry,” she muttered as she accidentally brushed past him.

Out in the street, she strode in the opposite direction from home. She needed fresh air, scenery, anything to distract her from herself. But ten steps from the shop, she heard her name being called.

“Shit!” she whispered to herself, turning warily.

“What’s your problem?” Finn asked, belligerent.

Rae scoffed. “What’s MY problem? What’s YOUR problem?”

Finn frowned deeper. “At the moment, YOU.”

Rae puffed her chest out a little in defiance. “SAME,” she said.

Finn’s eyes betrayed him as his gaze dropped to follow the swell of her chest, and they didn’t look back for a fair few seconds.

“Oh … never mind!” She started to turn and stomp away, but Finn called out for her to wait. And there was something in his voice that made her wait.

He caught up to her and jogged around to face her. “No, seriously, what’s your problem with me?” he asked.

“I—I can’t believe you even have to ask!” she blustered.

A quizzical look overtook his features. “I don’t know what I did,” he said. “Honest.”

“Y-you’re always makin’ little remarks, knockin’ my music taste, sayin’ my opinions are crap or whatever. Like, I get enough shit without you always … commentatin’ on my life.” She sighed. “It just gives the others more ammunition.”

Now Finn’s shoulders slumped. “Others?” he echoed.

“Yeah. Simmy and Big G and all those twats … I try to just float along unnoticed, but you’re always there, bringin’ attention … unwanted attention. You …  **you annoy the pants off me**!”

And then, Finn’s face went from dejected to confused to sheepish to something Rae couldn’t quite identify. He shook his head.

“What?” she asked.

“Oh … nothin’,” Finn said to his shoes.

“No. You’re the one who started this conversation, like every bloody time we interact, so tell me what.”

He looked up at her through his stupidly long eyelashes.

“Doesn’t that … tell ya somethin’?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“That I’m always tryin’ to … interact wi’ ya? It’s not to annoy ya, I swear. I guess I didn’t realize about those guys givin’ ya a hard time.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his fringe falling forward a bit. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

Was she being filmed? Was this for You’ve Been Framed? Was Jeremy Beadle on the other side of the hedges, waiting to pounce? Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Finn blinked at her, seeming a little frightened. “It’s just …” he sighed. “When ya said, that I … annoy the pants off ya …” he trailed off, gesturing into the air with his right hand, like she should fill in the blanks. But she wasn’t following. At all. So she just nodded, eyebrows raised, waiting.

“What?” she finally prompted.

Finn’s face suddenly tinged pink.  _Was he … blushing?_  she wondered.

“Well, I thought …” He cleared his throat nervously. “ … that’s  _one_  way to do it.”

Rae had given up Maths after the last compulsory class, so this  _really_  wasn’t adding up. “To do WHAT?”

“You really don’t know?” he asked.

“Know  _what_?” she shouted, frustrated. “See?” she asked, not waiting for his answer. “THIS is what I’m talkin’ about … you don’t make any bloody sen—“

She’d been flailing her arms around, gesticulating wildly, but both limbs stilled, then dropped to her sides, then found themselves looking for one another behind Finn’s back when he stepped forward and kissed her, mid-rant.

Stunned. Shocked into silence. But somewhere in the stunned, shocked silence, she eased into the kiss and found herself kissing him back. This utterly annoying, frustrating, irritating, exasperating, VEXING boy … liked her? Had apparently liked her for a while? Had been unsuccessfully trying to flirt with her? Get her attention? That’s what all that was about? And she’d … she didn’t want to think about what she’d done or thought. Not just at the moment. Not with those lips of his on hers, one hand tangled in the hair at the nape of her neck, the other gently caressing the side of her face.

When she gingerly pulled her head back, to catch her breath and look into his eyes to see if this were some elaborate joke, he looked as dazed and breathless as she felt. So, she didn’t think herself into a frenzy for once, but just leaned forward to kiss him back, whispering “Ohhh, now I see,” just before their lips met again.

* * * * *

_Three months later_ …

Rae lay back on the bed, a million nerves jumping around inside her. She was prepared, in the sense that Chloe had taken her to the lingerie shop to get something appropriate for the occasion. Currently, she was left only wearing the ‘appropriate’ bra and pants, the rest of her clothes having been removed, very meticulously and gently, by Finn bloody Nelson.

He’d excused himself to get something from the bathroom. Rae had a feeling she knew what it might be, and her toes curled in anxious anticipation, but she was surprised when he came back with some matches to light the candles on his bedside table. That little gesture made her smile, and uncoiled the tension in her belly a fraction or two.

When the candles were lit and the volume on the Paul Weller album adjusted by one tick on the knob,  Finn came back to the bed, propped himself up on two arms over her, leaving space between them with his knees, and leaned in for a dizzying kiss. Rae found herself lifting her chest up to fill the void, trying to close the gap between them. She put her arms up and linked them around him, pulling him tight to her. He sighed happily and turned so they were both on their sides, facing each other. He glanced down at her green lace bra, then to her matching knickers. He smiled and gave a little shake of his head.

“What?” she whispered, a mote of worry marring her own happiness, wondering if he was regretting this, or not thrilled with how she looked. But his answer swept that particle of doubt away.

“I’m just … I can’t believe it.”

“Can’t believe what?” she whispered.

“That I actually did it,” he whispered back, as he hooked a thumb inside the waist of her underwear, the nail gently grazing her hip. With a little tug, the lace slid over the soft curve and she shivered at the feel of the fabric ghosting over her skin. Then he pulled at the other side and shifted back to drag the pair down her legs. He held the scrap of green lace up, each forefinger stretching a side, and stared at it reverently for a second before looking over to Rae. “Can I keep them?” he asked, before tossing them aside to make better use of his fingers. Her answer was lost in a kiss.


End file.
